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Great Shelford leasehold conveyancing: Q and A’s

I am hoping to complete next month on a garden flat in Great Shelford. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Great Shelford should include some of the following:

  • The total extent of the premises. This will be the flat itself but may include a roof space or cellar if applicable.
  • Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease include a right of way over a path or hallways?
  • You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
  • An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
  • Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
  • Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Great Shelford please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Great Shelford

    • I have just started marketing my 2 bed flat in Great Shelford.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

    The sensible thing to do is clear the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

    I am looking at a couple of apartments in Great Shelford both have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

    There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Great Shelford is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the premises. For most purchasers and banks, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Great Shelford conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

    I've recently bought a leasehold property in Great Shelford. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

    Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

    If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

    Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Great Shelford with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Great Shelford can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
    • If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Great Shelford leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Should you fail to have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.
  • A minority of Great Shelford leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy formality and slows down many a Great Shelford home move. Where a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

    • Great Shelford Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

      If a Great Shelford lease has less than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the property. Check with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for two years in order to be eligible to extend the lease. The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the tenants benefit from control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often retained where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. It is important to be aware whether redecorating or some other significant cost is coming up to be shared by the leasehold owners and could well dramatically increase the the maintenance fees or necessitate a one time invoice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Great Shelford